Out of all the isekai protagonists
we've ever talked about, Cid Kagenou might just be the
most overpowered out of all of them. That doesn't necessarily mean he's
the strongest in terms of overall power, but when it comes to what
constitutes an overpowered character, Cid takes it to the limit then
goes even further past it. He has a certain trait that most, if
not all, other isekai protagonists don't even come close to having. And it's that aspect that I feel differentiates him as
the most overpowered protagonist in an isekai. So, as I go over what that is
using details left out from the novels, hopefully I can convey why it is
Cid's overwhelming shows of power are fundamentally different
from everyone else's. But first, do you like Chainsaw Man? How about the gun-wielding waifus
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immersive gameplay experience. But now, let's get back to the video. To be overpowered means to
overcome with superior strength. It doesn't necessarily have to refer
to a person's absolute Max potential, but can instead relate to that
person's ability to overwhelm someone. So, when I say that Cid
is the most overpowered, I'm not talking about how strong he is
relative to other characters from different isekai, but instead the scale at which he
overwhelms his opponents in battle. I'm talking about his ability to defeat
them in such a one-sided manner that to even call it a battle would be
an insult to what truly constitutes one. Now, I'm sure some of you are thinking how
Ainz and Rimuru tend to do the same, but the core of what makes them
so overwhelmingly strong is fundamentally different
from what makes Cid so strong. Yes, all three of these characters do
have magic and abilities incomparable to anyone else in their universe, but for Ainz and Rimuru,
that's just about all they have. They're overpowered because their
magic, build, and stats allow them to be. Take away Ainz's hundreds of
spells and his pay-to-win equipment, or Rimuru's ultimate abilities
and his innate traits as a slime, and what you're left with are two average salarymen
who wouldn't survive in a fight otherwise. When it comes to someone like Cid,
though, even without his magic and the equipment that stems from it, his immense knowledge of combat
and mastery over every single aspect of it makes him a daunting opponent
even before he was isekai. He applies this additional element of experience on top of all the other things that the likes of Ainz and Rimuru possess as well. making for this overpowered character who
not only defeats enemies with overwhelming magic, but also with an understanding of
combat so refined that even the most experienced fighter could
be defeated with feints alone. Now, I don't expect you to
understand what I'm saying right away, so allow me to explain just how
in-depth Cid's sense for battle goes. A deeper look into this extra layer
of power that's unique to him and ensures his opponents are defeated
in the most absolute way possible. Then, hopefully after,
you'll acknowledge just a little bit of
what I'm talking about. Starting all the way back
before Cid had isekai'd himself, his passion to become stronger had
led him to practice pretty much every form of combat. From karate to boxing and
swordplay to mixed martial arts, Cid engrossed himself n any and everything
that would make him more powerful. That didn't mean he had become
the greatest martial artist in the world, but if he kept training the way he did, then Cid
definitely knew it was in the realm of possibility. Fast forward now to when Cid
is 10 years old in the new world, and a clear disparity is noticed between his
fighting style and the ones more common here. You see, with the ones he'd learned being a refined
mix of the best humanity could come up with, it was only natural the more independent
styles of each kingdom seem, well, rough. Since he'd spent years learning a style of
fighting where movement was minimized and the best of each combat was
combined to create the perfect fight, Cid could easily choose what
was best for just about any situation. On the other hand, with this new world's fighting
techniques staying within their countries of origin, the different schools of combat haven't yet merged
into their optimal versions of themselves. Secret skills and hidden techniquesare are locked away
within the jurisdiction of the country that created them. Resulting in the inability for any person to refine and improve on what was taught to them. So, with Cid being in possession
of this pre-existing skillset, that already puts him at an advantage
over everyone else in the world. Combine that with the existence of magic, and that small
advantage turns into something completely different. Reason being that magic completely changes
the baseline of a person's physical performance. Like, if he can now lift someone up
with a single hand via magic then everything he knows about
close-quarters combat is completely useless. It'd be like trying to fight a
gorilla as a regular human. Say he was pinned in a mounted grapple,
then he could simply flex his abs to fly through the air. If his foot was caught during an attack,
then a slight activation of his leg muscles would send that person flying. These were just a couple of the many new options that needed to be considered now that magic was
added to the mix. More importantly than that, though, the speed and distance at which a person
would step into their attacks was completely different and harder to predict now. It was the hardest thing that
Cid had to get used to. Since martial arts was all about reading your opponent, knowing their range was of the utmost importance. It meant understanding the angle, position, and distance of their attacks, which in turn allowed him to optimize his own. With those three aspects being everything, as soon as they were understood at its fullest, it didn't matter whether the person
attacking was 5 or 100 meters away. Cid could now determine the exact point to stand, which would allow him to both react
to an attack and land a blow right after. It was an optimized position
defined by a single millimeter. Combine that with an adjustment to the angle of his hits, along with a slight turn to the position of his stance and, those would all be crucial differences
creating advantages for him and, disadvantages for his opponent. It was all about creating opportunities
through the narrowest of margins. Not jumping in 16 feet, then dashing 19 back. That was how Cid viewed combat, and he would quickly remaster it
even with the addition of magic. Now, that's not to say Cid valued technique over strength, because if he was forced to choose
between one or the other, then 10 times out of 10, Cid
would always choose strength. Reason being that, he firmly believed advanced tactics
without the power to back them up was useless. When confronted with strategies that relied
solely on power, speed, or reaction time though, those were the ones that Cid hated the most They completely disregarded the very subtleties of battle
that made them so amazing in the first place. So, as Cid himself likes to put it, "strength was natural, but mastery required effort." And, it's those words that I believe lie at the core of what differentiates Cid from every other overpowered isekai protagonist. Sure, Ainz and Rumuru and Hajime may have
mastered the use of their own skills and magic, but, Cid has mastered all that,
plus the art of combat. You see, to him, skill and expertise are
pretty much everything. He allows his techniques to bolster his strength, uses his ingenuity to
dictate his speed, then his reaction time allows him to scope out potential attacks. They're all aspects that remain independent from the physicality a lot of the others seem to rely on. And, though that is definitely important, Cid would never screw up a fight by relying
solely on that or any of the other aspects. For example, let's take a look at how
he approached his fight with Grease. First, Cid walked forward and
waited for Grease to take a swing at him. As soon as that move was made, not only was Cid made aware
of his current range but, that was cue for a minute quantity
of magic to be used to speed himself up. He would focus the tiniest bit of magic into his feet, compress it till the time of release, then use its explosive impact to make himself faster. So, while Grease's sword was slicing past a target no longer there, Cid was placing himself within range
for his own attacks. A slight shift in position that required minimal effort, yet still provided him with all the advantage. When Cid went to initiate his own attack next, he didn't use magic to
make himself faster, as their difference in speed
no longer mattered anymore. Since he was now on the offensive, Grease had no choice but to move in response to it, which to Cid, indicated he could no
longer attack anymore. One more step forward and, Cid would now put both parties in
a position too awkward for either to attack. Leading Grease to step backward, just like how Cid had anticipated. Even if he didn't though, just reading the shift in Grease's magical energy was enough to indicate
that he was heading there. So, this time Cid had manipulated the battle by using his own position
to affect his opponents. Once again, creating a clean opportunity
for him to strike without any risk to himself. Now, I know Grease really isn't the best opponent
to highlight an overwhelming difference in power but, as the first instance where
we get to see how Cid fights, it sets the foundation for
how battle is perceived by him. It isn't just this competition to see who's stronger but, instead, a dance of tactics in which one must overcome the other. Grease was definitely stronger
than Cid was here but, because Cid understood exactly what was happening, Grease could only feel as if he was
getting toyed with. He literally felt he was being overpowered. Much to the point that he knew he could
only wait and accept his death. Now, battle that truly highlights this fundamental
difference in his approach to combat is that one sided fight against the Witch of Calamity, the literal strongest woman in recorded history, who Cid beat just as easily as he did with everyone else. What makes this fight different from all the others though, was that, in this one, he actually had to try a little bit. Not in the sense of relying more on
his magic and his OP abilities but, rather through greater insight into
what his opponent was capable of. It's an in-depth analysis that he likes to refer to as a "conversation". Whenever Cid finds himself facing a worthy opponent, he likes to treat the battle as this different type of form for it. You see, every little thing from a shift in gaze, to the position of the feet were all tells that indicated something
about the opponent he was facing They were these tiny cues that each
held a very specific meaning to it. So, the more of these little things he observed, the more meanings he could
determine from them and, that in turn would lead to figuring out
how best to deal with them. It was the very core essence of what
fighting was all about to him. "Only the most skilled in combat
could perceive purpose in the smallest of actions, then use that knowledge to
prepare a superior response to it." So, by thinking of it as a conversation, each person's communication skills
would be their ability to read their opponent. The stronger your communication skills were, the further ahead you could anticipate, and that in turn would allow you
to respond accordingly. If the other person's communication skills were just as strong, then they too could do the same, and anticipate
prior to your follow-through and then react to it. resulting in this endless
back and forth exchange in which the conversation continues until one person's
dialogue becomes too much for the other. On the other hand, if an opponent's conversational skills were
lacking much like how many of them do, a dialogue would never even get started in the first place. It would just end up in one party
acting on impulse until the fight ended. Which to Cid couldn't even
be considered a conversation. To him, that was no different than trying to end
the fight with a game of rock-paper-scissors. So, whenever Cid was faced with an opponent, every time he would go in trying to start this conversation, but every time until now, he would
always be met with silence. His opponents would always go in
trying to win on impulse. Resulting in a far cry from the true type of battle
he'd always been yearning for. When he does have the chance
to have this conversation though, that's when we get to see just how far this gap
in skill and experience truly takes him. So, first, he starts with observation, initially by simply staring
to find those first subtle meanings, then following it up by granting the initiative
to judge speed, mobility, and destructive capacity. It's a step that usually takes less time the stronger your communication skills were. Once that observation was complete, the next step was to refine his
movements, and, this typically involved removing
unnecessary motion when dodging. Like, if he could turn full steps into half steps
and two moves into one, then that would directly result in a window
in which a counterattack could be made. You see, the less time spent moving to dodge
meant more time for a counterattack. Bringing us to the third step in which
the first two were creating an opening for. Sure, Cid could've evaded Aurora forever, but doing that would never lead to victory. No. his dodges needed to be refined so that
he could create space for a counterattack. and, that was the essence of the
conversation he was having. It was actually noted perfectly
through the observations of Alexia. she was the first to understand
exactly what Shadow was doing here. Now, for someone as skilled as Cid, the outcome of this battle was made
certain all the way back at step one. His initial observations showed Aurora
wasn't as skilled at communicating as him. So, by the time the first
move was even made, both seemed to understand it was only a matter
of time until the battle would be decided by him. Now, despite it being so one-sided, I believe this to be the best fight that highlights
that fundamental difference I've been talking about. I mean, Cid definitely could've used any number
of his OP abilities to end this right away, but that's never the type of fight
that he's trying to go for. Unlike what Ainz, Rimuru,
or anyone else does, Cid is always going in,
trying to start this conversation. He wants to begin this dialogue so he can beat
his opponent in the most absolute way possible. Achieving that perfect victory
is all that ever matters to him. Victory to everyone else
just means defeating your opponent, but victory to Cid is something
completely different. It's the process of systematically dismantling them
in the most overwhelming way possible. A precise operation that always ends with him
overpowering them both in strength <i>and</i> technique. So, whereas every other Isekai protagonist
wins their battles through strength and power, Cid takes it a step above and bolsters
all that with technique and ingenuity. He would never solely rely on the magic or skills that came from being Isekaid. No. Instead he chooses to rely on himself, his refined experience with combat, which results in this level of overpowering
that we only ever see from him. That's the reason I think Cid to be
the most OP character out of all of them. Once again, that doesn't mean he's the strongest, but when it comes to the scale at
which he overwhelms his opponent, every other protagonist doesn't even come close. There's no one else who achieves absolute victory
and inflicts such hopeless defeat like the way that Cid does. I mean, the guy literally beat the hero Olivier
without so much as a sword or magic. He beat Annerose with perfect spacing and terrifying foresight, then humiliated Iris through a series of
feints so intimidating she couldn't even move. Now, if that doesn't highlight that
fundamental gap in combat experience, then I honestly don't know what else to tell you. It's his literal life passion
to be the most overpowered. But, yeah, that's my two cents on what I think of Cid. Whether you happen to think the same or not, I'd love to hear your opinions in the comments. This was honestly just a fun little topic that I wanted to talk about. Nothing that needs to be taken too seriously, I hope. But, with this now done, I'll be going back and covering Danmachi next week. So, if you're a fan of that, then
feel free to checkout my other videos. Until then though, as always thank
you so much for watching, and if you enjoyed this type of anime content, then you already know what to do. So, until next time. Ciao.
